Root Metfanant's quick and dirty review of GingerBlur for the X

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Intro: Install was fairly painless, wipe data/factory reset, install zip through Clockwork recovery and it booted up just fine...did have a slight issue with apparently Clockwork not clearing ALL of my data as my phone still had my wallpaper from ApeX, as well as remembered all of my wifi network stuff, and it led to a slight problem, but a trip to stock recovery and a second data wipe fixed the problem...

Now...on to the review...ill grade everything on a scale of 1-5, and preface it with what i would have scored ApeX 1.4.1 for some sort of context

Stability: 3.5/5 (ApeX 4.5/5)

I chalk up most of the problems i've actually had to apps not being designed to function with this version of Android. My biggest issues came with Having multiple launchers installed and trying to switch between them with Home Smack. There are lots of quirks, and it actually ends up disabling my home button when trying to use the stock launcher.

I've had a couple of random FC's when going to open apps (Quadrant a couple times, Launcher Pro once), but re-opening the app straight away works every time. I've never had an app FC multiple times in a row, or require a reboot.

For a leaked version that has not been approved this is probably as good as it gets

Design: 4/5 (ApeX 3.5/5)

I can't believe im saying this, but i think Moto NAILED the design here. I still think for slickness, that Sense is the "prettier" UI of the two, but i really quite like what Moto has done with GB. For those that have not seen screens, or can't reall tell. Moto has NOT gone with the stock black/green color scheme, instead they have gone with a dark blue notification bar with blue, and ginger green accents throughout the ROM. I think it is quite nice.

Menus have gone from black, to white, and i didn't think i would like them, but i do.

Screen transitions now have an "elastic" effect to them, and the screen rotation has a nice twirling effect. Window animations are a nice fade in/fade out that i quite like.

I installed all the different launchers that get talked about (LPP, Go, ADW) and honestly i have uninstalled them, there is something about the stock launcher that makes me want to keep using it for its looks...

Performance: 4/5 (ApeX 4/5)

This version of Blur RIPS. my ONLY complaint on the performance front is that Moto still has not been able to match the smoothness of our favorite launchers (LPP, ADW, Go) when it comes to moving between home screens. If they could improve that area i would have given this category a 5/5.

In reference to the rest of the performance Moto has simply nailed it, moving in and out of apps is smooth and quick, the app drawer is smooth and just general performance has increased noticeably.

I don't generally put too much weight into benchmark tests, because they can vary greatly from test to test...

HOWEVER, that being said whatever Moto has done with this build of Gingerbread has it beating up Quadrant. For reference, I was coming from ApeX 1.4.1 and overclocked to 1.15ghz, and prior to that i was on Liberty 1.5 with the same clock speeds. Liberty out benchmarked ApeX on average, with my phone generally sitting in the 1600's on Liberty, and the 1500's on ApeX. The best i can ever remember ripping off was a 1690 on Liberty 1.0.

Now, straight after installing GingerBlur i opened up Quadrant and ran it. And pulled off a mid 1500's score, i was quite impressed considering it is stock, with all the bloatware running. After a few reboots and whatnot messing around with things scores have SIGNIFICANTLY improved, and as i sit here now i just scored an 1870, and my scores have been hovering in the high 1700's. I may see 2000+ scores when we get root and i can overclock this thing. And i am very impressed with that.

Overall im VERY impressed. These are just some of my early observations having had it installed for a few hours now. Obviously way too early to be talking about battery life because ive been messing with it, but over the next few days ill keep an eye on it...I was doing pretty well on Apex, and getting over two days while still having 20-30% battery left, so it will be a good test for GingerBlur to beat that...

OH! another cool feature, in the power off menu there is a "sleep" function that supposedly uses very little power, but also allows for instant on, so you don't have to turn it off and reboot, it also remembers everything from before you put it to sleep. Also says its safe to use on airplanes and such because it disables all data connections (wifi, cell signal etc) while running...its a pretty slick feature

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Nope it is still 4x4 on the stock launcher. That and the widgets for the most part default to what they should be. I like to be able to pull a 3x1 widget across the screen.

Other than those two issues the stock launcher is almost as good (and in some ways better) than the other launchers out there. I have paid for both ADW and LPP and am going to stick with stock for awhile and see what it can do.

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Nope it is still 4x4 on the stock launcher. That and the widgets for the most part default to what they should be. I like to be able to pull a 3x1 widget across the screen.

Other than those two issues the stock launcher is almost as good (and in some ways better) than the other launchers out there. I have paid for both ADW and LPP and am going to stick with stock for awhile and see what it can do.

Click to expand...

you can resize the widgets...put them on your screen...then longpress them but don't move them...

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you can resize the widgets...put them on your screen...then longpress them but don't move them...

Click to expand...

Yep, I was totally surprised when I found this by accident.

Excellent writeup! I haven't had any issues at all with fc's or any lag.

The only thing I don't like about the launcher is I have not found a way to reduce the number of screens. I don't need 7 screens. Does anyone have any insight on this, or is it something that cannot be changed?

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Excellent writeup! I haven't had any issues at all with fc's or any lag.

The only thing I don't like about the launcher is I have not found a way to reduce the number of screens. I don't need 7 screens. Does anyone have any insight on this, or is it something that cannot be changed?

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can't be changed...

some day im really hoping that Moto gets one of guys/teams behind the great launchers out there (LPP, Go, ADW) and gives them a high paying job and allows them to go nuts on the stock launcher...

lots of the features of other launchers (changing # of screens, screen transitions, changing scrolling speeds etc.) would make Moto's stock launcher the best in the business

its damn near close now, its just not quite as smooth as the third party options...

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Very nice. I'm very tempted, but I just put rubiX on my phone and the stability and speeds of it are crazy.

I also am waiting for root. I like my root apps too much.

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I was a little hesitant at first, but I figured it would take me less than an hour to sbf, root and restore my backup of fission if I didn't like it.
I'm not that reliant on root apps, so I will probably run this for a while and see how it goes.

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I was a little hesitant at first, but I figured it would take me less than an hour to sbf, root and restore my backup of fission if I didn't like it.
I'm not that reliant on root apps, so I will probably run this for a while and see how it goes.

Click to expand...

I'm reliant on root apps, especially the main one which is bootstrap. I like the theme GB has on it now, but I would like to theme it myself with some BWC or some matted blues.

I'd also like to be able to OC and do some other things too that require root; I'd also like to use some apps that require root that I didn't realize how much I used until now

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I think it would be necessary because that would mean we have root! Then Bo and others can start making some awesome themes and custom zips for us!

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well yes, when you approach it from that angle then i completely agree, but for us lowly commoners that don't actually develop things, just reap the benefits of others hard work, then its not that big of a deal...yet...

i do hope however that some of the devs might be laying down some of the framework for some custom roms/themes in anticipation of getting root...

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edit: sbf'd back to .340, because I needed root, apps and rom. Don't have time to reflash everything. I just like what I see so far. That screen transition to horizontal is downright iPhone-esque... dare I say it.